The 15 Best Restaurants in Venice in 2024

Al Covo is a long-standing bastion of unpretentious refinement run by a Venetian-American duo. The food is studied but not showy, with dishes like mullet ceviche and tagliolini (thin flat spaghetti) with white truffle. The menu is an ode to Venetian ingredients—owner-chef Cesare Benelli is part of a farm-to-fork initiative on the agricultural lagoon island of Sant’Erasmo—but with a fresh nod to modern palettes.

On a hot summer’s day, the breezy waterside tables of La Palanca are bliss. The convivial eatery is always packed with diners eager for a lunchtime spot (food is only served till 2:30 pm) by the Giudecca canal with a panoramic view of Venice just over the water. This is the place for classic, quality fish dishes like baccalà (codfish mousse) and cuttlefish-ink risotto. If you miss out on the midday meal, you can drop in for an aperitivo and plate of cicchetti (Venetian snacks) throughout the day.

Venice’s culinary golden age was arguably the 14th and 15th centuries when thriving trade with the East brought a spectacular wealth of exotic ingredients to the republic. Sadly, little of this cuisine remains as the potent, sweet, and spicy flavors are now anachronistic with our modern tastes. However, at the long-established Bistrot de Venise, Sergio Fragiacomo, a restauranteur with a passion for leafing through old recipe books, still serves centuries-old dishes like prawns with onions and turmeric or saffron-flavoured Umbrian fish with peach coulis, modified just enough to please today’s palettes.

At Al Gatto Nero, one of Burano’s most beloved restaurants, you can eat beside the canal or inside the timeless dining room with walls crowded with artwork. Dishes like risotto with lagoon-caught goby fish and delicate tempura fried seafood come on plates decorated with the colorful houses of the island. It opened in the 1960s and is still a family-run institution of affable waiters and an amiable host.

Vineria all’Amarone stands as a premier Wine Tasting bar and Shop in the heart of Venice, presenting an intimate and welcoming atmosphere for wine lovers. The staff is composed of Certified Sommeliers who invite their visitors to explore an extensive selection of Italian wines, with a focus on the celebrated Amarone.
Guests can enrich their wine flight experiences by joining the exclusive Wine Club, and shipping their favorite wines internationally.

This elegant restaurant and pizzeria have ample outdoor dining space in its brick-walled courtyard and the sunny piazza out front. The refreshingly contemporary menu at Birraria La Corte is infused with subtle hints of Venice’s ancient spice trade—saffron bigoli (like fat spaghetti) or gnocchi with sumac powder—and classic fish dishes like “busara” style prawns in a rich tomato sauce or risotto made from goby fish.

A neighborhood favorite, La Zucca is the archetypal Venetian trattoria. The dark panelled interior is decorated with bottle-lined shelves, and the wooden tables are laid with paper placements. Dishes are fresh, simple, and comforting, from mushrooms stuffed with pecorino cheese to beef cheek in a Cabernet sauce. The name—meaning pumpkin—often prompts the assumption that this is a vegetarian restaurant. It’s not, but it does happen to have a lot of options for a plant-based dinner.

Hop on a Vaporetto to the island of Mazzorbo, and you’ll find yourself in another world away from the hubbub of Venice. Venissa is a restaurant and winery secluded inside a high stone-walled vineyard and community vegetable garden. With a classic and green (sustainable) Michelin star, the kitchen serves up exquisitely presented dishes using fish, herbs, and plants foraged (by boat) from the lagoon. You can pair your meal with the Bisol family’s wines, including the ancient Dorona made from grapes grown in situ that once graced the tables of the Venetian Republic’s rulers.

Now for something completely different, although you couldn’t get more Venetian. If you really want to push the boat out, book an on-the-water lunch as part of a 1 to 7-day cruise with Mauro Stoppa on his historic sailing ship Eolo. Below deck, Mauro prepares artistic dishes using vegetables from Sant’Erasmo island and fish from the market while guests relax under a canopy up top with a glass of lagoon-produced wine. Then, it’s time to tuck in while you float languorously through the shallow waters, passing remote islands and flora-filled salt marshes.

Sea-foodies, this should be your mecca in Venice. This long-standing institution is where you’ll find recherché Venetian dishes like cassopipa—spaghetti with lightly spiced seafood—to founder Giovanni Bortoluzzi’s original recipe. The few tables in the calle outside are always highly in demand but the indoor dining room is possibly more charming with its démodé dark wooden furniture, starchy tablecloths and a wall of vintage mirrors.

Glam by name and by nature, Enrico Bartolini’s Venice restaurant has a unique accolade in the city of two Michelin stars. The taster menu (at €220 a pop) is an emotional journey of explosive flavors and textures plated like artistic masterpieces. The delicate flowers and leafy greenery decorating the dishes seem to echo the stylish jungle-themed interior and lush palazzo gardens outside.